Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. was founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C.,
January 9, 1914, by three young African-American male students. The founders, Honorable
A. Langston Taylor, Honorable Leonard F. Morse, and Honorable Charles I. Brown, wanted
to organize a Greek-Letter fraternity that would truly exemplify the ideals of Brotherhood,
Scholarship, and Service.

The founders deeply wished to create an organization that viewed itself as "a part
of" the general community rather than "apart from" the general community. They believed
that each potential member should be judged by his own merits rather than his family
background or affluence...without regard of race, nationality, skin tone or texture
of hair. They wished and wanted their fraternity to exist as part of even a greater
brotherhood which would be devoted to the "inclusive we" rather than the "exclusive
we".

From its inception, the Founders also conceived Phi Beta Sigma as a mechanism to deliver
services to the general community. Rather than gaining skills to be utilized exclusively
for themselves and their immediate families, the founders of Phi Beta Sigma held a
deep conviction that they should return their newly acquired skills to the communities
from which they had come. This deep conviction was mirrored in the Fraternity's motto,
"Culture For Service and Service For Humanity".

Today, eighty-five years later, Phi Beta Sigma has blossomed into an international
organization of leaders. No longer a single entity, the Fraternity has now established
the Phi Beta Sigma Educational Foundation, the Phi Beta Sigma Housing Foundation,
the Phi Beta Sigma Federal Credit Union, and the Phi Beta Sigma Charitable Outreach
Foundation.